As an artist, a human being, a woman of this planet (pause for dramatic effect); I am bursting with creative energy. It is this amazing impetus that drives me to tell stories and to express myself; but, alas, I suffer from something that many artists suffer from either their whole lives or from time to time.  And that is execution.

I walk around, day in and day out, with a gazillion ideas in my head.  I speak into the handy little feature on my BlackBerry that records your thoughts on the spot or I write them down as fast as possible before they escape me and another idea enters my mind.  That’s just it…I have a phone AND a notebook full of ideas but nothing going on to show for it.  The funny thing is, the whole “writing ideas down” thing is fairly recent.  My ideas used to be like floating balloons that would roam the open air aimlessly.

Many of my agent “friends” consider actors like me lazy or entitled.  But, I see the truth of the matter…and that truth is: my left brain sucks.

In recent years, I have since discovered that I am “half a person.”  I am so strongly right brained that I have such a hard time doing “normal” things (i.e., schedules, to-do lists, organization).

I have spent a many of hours and dollars at The Container Store, telling myself this is the day/week/year that I will be on top of my stuff!  I have tried the prettiest calenders, the practical schedules and the fancy organizational systems, only to find myself right back where I started.

Even with blogging, I can imagine the greatest topics of which to discuss but when I sit to write them: nothing.  Which brings me to this article now.  Look at me…I am actually writing it!

I figured for my first blog I would just start with the truth, what a great way to start!  Blog about “what you know,” isn’t that what they say?

Well, these are the things that I know…

I know that scheduling is difficult for someone like me since I base so much of my day on my emotions and spontaneity.  How can I schedule writing for Tuesday when I don’t know if I feel like writing on Tuesday when Tuesday comes around?  Make sense?  What if I want to do a crazy, spontaneous dance because I am living in the moment and that is what I am feeling at that moment.

The solution?  I can’t believe I am about to write this: self-discipline (nicknamed SD).  Could you imagine if DaVinci didn’t have enough self-discipline to finish the Mona Lisa?  Not only would we be out of a great book (The DaVinci Code) but the world would never get to stand in front of one of the greatest works of all time.  Sure, we aren’t all DaVinci’s…but, you don’t know until you do it!

I have to do baby steps when it comes to SD.  One thing that works for me is setting mini-missions.  For example, if I have to start a script for a short film, I set the timer for 15 minutes and work towards doing as much as I can in those 15 minutes.  When the timer goes off, I am so geared to go that I either keep going or decide to call it quits and I think: at least I gave it 15 minutes.  The interesting thing is, getting started is the hardest part.  Once I get going on most things, I am in a zone and grooving and the 15 minutes turns into 15 hours (a bit of an exaggeration).

Another tip that I picked up that goes along with SD is my late night pick up.  In the wee hours when I am dragging myself to bed, I spend 15 minutes cleaning up messes from the day.  A pile here, some shoes there, a little spaghetti on the carpet (WTH?)…before, I used to let those piles, shoes and spaghetti pile up to the point of disgusting levels of messiness.  At the end of the night, forcing myself to do this, saves me a many headaches and allows me to get things done the next day.

Next, I know that I have the worst concept of time.  I wake up, check my Twitter & Facebook account, then a link sparks my interest online.  One blink of the eyes and the day is gone.  I may have ordered some great shoes from ShopBop but that pile of head shots isn’t gonna send itself out (maybe Mac could make an app for that).

Solution:  I now try to every morning make a list of things that are important to get done that day.  Does the laundry need to be done?  Sure, but it can wait.  A wise person once told me to start the day off with the most important things because you are telling yourself what is important to you.  If you start off your day with a yoga routine, breakfast and meditation that’s a different message to yourself than surfing the web, tv, and tending to your garden first thing in the morning.  Also, if you do what’s important as your first thing, it gives you a smaller chance of getting distracted or finding excuses.

For now, that’s as much information that I am going to throw at you.  I don’t want to explode your brain (left or right side).  Plus, my brain and I need a break.